Matthew McDerra Wins UKIPT Manchester

On Monday, the UKIPT Manchester £550 buy-in event came to an end with PokerStars qualifier Matthew McDerra outlasting a field of 615-players to emerge as the champion, claiming the first place prize money of £74,000.

The event debuted in 2010 and was a big hit with poker players, but the 2011 UKIPT Manchester Main Event will easily be remembered for the gruelling heads-up battle between two PokerStars qualifiers. It took six hours of play between Matthew McDerra and Matuesz Warowiec, with the chip lead swinging back and forth multiple times.

McDerra started the final table sixth in chips, but managed to patiently build up his stack. Holding pocket aces against Owen Shiels’ A-K he doubled up. A few hands later McDerra sent Shiels to the rail in seventh place, followed by the elimination of Mick Fletcher and Rob Angood in third and fourth place, respectively.

When the heads-up play got underway, McDerra got off to a shaky start when he found himself dominated with the same hand as his opponent but with a worse kicker.

Then McDerra found pocket kings against Warowiec’s A-T and all the chips went in the middle on a J-9-Q flop. The K on the turn turn gave Warowiec a straight but McDerra had the possibility of filling up on the river. “Pair the board,” he shouted and the dealer obliged with a 9 on the river. The play continued for another three hours before McDerra eventually claimed the UKIPT Manchester title.

Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly would have been one of the favourites to win the tournament, considering that he was second overall in chips and the most experienced player at the final table. However, nothing seemed to go right for the two-time WSOP bracelet winner and he failed to win a single hand before busting out. His nemesis at the final table was Matuesz Warowiec. Eventually, Kelly, who was short-stacked, moved all-in with A-3 from late position but was called by Rob Angood’s pocket jacks, and he exited the tournament in fifth place.

The UKIPT series now moves to Cork where the main event runs between May 18th-22nd. You could have a shot at winning a UKIPT title by playing one of the satellites which are running on PokerStars now.

The results of the final table for the UKIPT Manchester event were as follows: